Electronic Tongues, Electronic Noses and Other Chemometric-Based Approaches for Analytical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few years, there has been an increasing demand for fast, highly sensitive and selective methods of analysis to meet new challenges in environmental monitoring, food safety and public health. In response to this demand, chemo- and bio-sensors have arisen as promising tools, which offer accurate chemical data in a timely and cost-effective manner. However, the difficulty to obtain sensors with appropriate selectivity and sensitivity for a given analyte, and to solve analytical problems which do not require the quantification of a certain analyte, but an overall effect on a biological system (e.g. toxicity, quality indices, provenance, freshness, etc.), led to the concept of electronic noses (ENs) and electronic tongues (ETs) as a new strategy to tackle these problems.

These analytical systems are inspired by the sensory ability of taste in mammals, where a few receptors can respond in a distinct way to a large variety of substances. This principle is then coupled with a complex data treatment stage analogous to the brain functioning, which allows us to quantify or classify a large amount of analytes. These biomimetic systems, unlike conventional approaches, are directed towards the combination of low selectivity sensor arrays, which may show cross-response features, to obtain added value in the generation of the analytical information.

In this context, this Special Issue aims to cover the advances of such biomimetic sensing systems, by creating a collection of papers dealing with the use of multivariate data analysis methods (even not based on sensors, but which methodologies are suitable for those), novel applications and strategies for multicomponent analysis using single sensors or sensor arrays and any other related biologically inspired sensing approach. Both research papers and review articles will be considered. We look forward to and welcome your participation in this Special Issue.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• New sensing and biosensing technologies for developing electronic nose and electronic tongue analysis systems;
• Applications in identification / quantification of compounds with sensor array principles;
• Use of novel data treatment approaches in electronic nose / electronic tongue methodology;
• Study of key issues on long-term usage of these systems: calibration transfer, correction of drifts, sensor replacement.

Prof. Dr. Manel Del Valle
Dr. Xavier Cetó
Guest Editors

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